Sébastien Neukirch
Institut Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Sorbonne Université, Campus Pierre et Marie Curie
Paris, France

tel: +33 1 44 27 72 61
e-mail: sebastien.neukirch (-atat-) upmc.fr


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Analytical Description of Extension, Torque, and Supercoiling Radius of a Stretched Twisted DNA

Sébastien Neukirch and John F. Marko

Physical Review Letters, 106 (2011) 138104

Abstract : We study the mixture of extended and supercoiled DNA that occurs in a twisted DNA molecule under tension. Closed-form asymptotic solutions for the supercoiling radius, extension and torque of the molecule are obtained in the high-force limit where electrostatic and elastic effects dominate. We demonstrate that experimental data obey the extension and torque scaling laws apparent in our formulae, in the regime where thermal fluctuation effects are quenched by applied force.

PACS numbers : 87.14.gk, 82.35.Rs, 87.15.A-, 87.15.La

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.138104

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